Folks, it is absolutely VITAL that as many of you submit questions/comments as possible! If this sub-committee isn't inundated with questions/comments...and I do mean flooded with them...they're going to interpret that as a lack of interest on your part. We all know that's not the case! Think about this issue in as much detail as possible, talk about what's been covered in the Halifax C of C report with friends, family and others, come up with new questions or new angles on questions already posed. One question I have is how your school-age children riding on school buses will be protected from the inevitable accident and exposure to contaminants as they travel on the narrow, winding back-roads to and from school and school-related activities? Trucks that haul from mine sites are often 2 lanes wide...they're massive (I'll post a link to a video clip for you to see)! How will your children be protected from wind-borne radon (and its progeny) as they play outside? Deborah Lovelace's experiments with helium balloons have shown that while some of the balloons have blown west to east as expected, others have been caught in other wind patterns and blown east to west and to the south as well. No one's yard or playground is safe. How will you keep radon out of your houses? It's an odorless, colorless gas that permeates everything in its path as its blown by the wind...your houses, your cars, your yards, your fields, your churches, your schools, your recreation areas...everything. It cannot be contained...it's air-borne. And it's definitely a cancer-causing agent...the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer in the country in the places it's present. And it's present in Southside now...it will be even more so once the ground is blasted open at Coles Hill.
It doesn't matter if you don't believe you write well enough to ask something! You do! If you really feel like you can't phrase what you want to say well enough, ask someone to help you. If necessary, email me with your thoughts and we'll work together to formulate a question or comment that gets across what you want to say (smidgen_barnes@yahoo.com). It's simply imperative that you swamp this sub-committee with questions and comments. The time has been extended to do so. Please take advantage of it!
by TIM DAVIS/Star-Tribune Editor
Monday, December 29, 2008 11:29 AM EST
The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission's Uranium Mining Subcommittee has extended its deadline on written comments on the scope of a uranium study until Monday, Jan. 19.
Comments should be sent to Coal & Energy Commission, c/o Ellen Porter, Division of Legislative Services, 910 Capitol Street, Richmond, Va. 23219.
Comments also may be sent by email to eporter@dls.virginia.gov.
The subcommittee will hold a public hearing Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 6 p.m. at Chatham High School to receive public comment on its study of uranium mining.
Del. Lee Ware Jr. of Powhatan, chairman of the subcommittee, said the meeting will be "devoted solely to the scope of the study" and what should be included in the study.
"The purpose of the hearing is not to receive pro or con viewpoints about uranium mining generally or the Coles property proposal specifically," said Ware.
"Comments should be specific to the scope of the study on uranium mining and not on whether uranium mining should be permitted."
According to the chairman, speakers will be limited to three minutes and may not give their time to other speakers.
A sign-up sheet will be available at least one hour before the start of the hearing.
"Care will be taken to ensure that as wide a range of recommendations for the study as possible are received," Ware said.
The chairman added that speakers will be asked not to repeat what has been said by other speakers.
The Coles Hill deposit in Pittsylvania County is believed to be the largest uranium deposit in the United States.
It was discovered in the early 1980s about six miles northeast of Chatham.
Two years ago, Walter Coles, who owns a majority of the ore, formed Virginia Uranium Inc. in hopes of mining the uranium deposit, which is worth between $8 billion and $10 billion.
Before the deposit can be mined, however, the General Assembly would have to lift Virginia's moratorium on uranium mining, which has been in place since 1982.
tim.davis@chathamstartribune.com
434-432-2791
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTYz8rOmG9Q Mining truck video clip. Lots more on the page too!
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